The "Yes! of God

"Fear not for I am with you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:10

When we exercise our 'faith muscles' the truth is revealed in us and to those around us.
Is God real? Yes!
Is God faithful to his word? Yes!
Does he answer prayer? Yes!
Is Christ the Way, the Truth and the Life? Yes!
Does God care for his children? Yes!
Can we trust him completely? Yes!
Is Jesus our Redeemer? Yes!
Is Christ the same yesterday, today and tomorrow? Yes!
Believers need to live and spread the Yes! of God "If you've been redeemed by the Lord, then say so." Ps 107:2
No matter what our circumstances , if we keep our spiritual eyes focused on God in Christ we have nothing to fear. "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind." 2Tim 1:7 When negative thoughts come against us we should refuse to believe them. Believe the fact that God is big enough to take care of us. Our faith is not in reports, opinions, arguments, situations, positions, politicians or tv demagogues. Our faith is in Almighty God who upholds us with the right hand of his righteousness. So be it.
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I've known a small number of atheists and have taken the opportunity to witness to them about Christ. Two in particular come to mind, one the director of a city library and the other a college librarian. I don't think their profession influenced their religious beliefs although I had an architecture professor who claimed architecture was his religion.

My conversations with the two librarians always seemed amicable and I never came on as "pushy." I had learned the hard way long ago that being aggressive was not the way to promote Christian life.

As far as I could tell, neither of the librarians ever budged from their positions. Both had keen minds and their intellects barred them from believing in God. ("That man is a fool who says to himself, "Their is no God." Ps, 14:1 LB) When the city librarian died I was asked to speak at his funeral which was conducted by a Christian minister. ( Both I and the minister were friends of the departed librarian so our part in his funeral does not necessarily indicate that he had changed his mind.) On the other hand, I hope the Holy Spirit was able to finally convince him.

The other librarian, I'll call him Ed, is still physically alive and I've heard through a third party that he resents my efforts. He had ample opportunity to say so at the time and I don't understand why he didn't.
Could I have done a better job of witnessing? Probably. Did I make mistakes? Probably. Did I fail? Ed rejected Christ, not me. I'm sad it didn't work out for these two men but I don't regret being the messenger. I was not trying to change these men. God has not called us to change anyone; not even ourselves. That work belongs to Christ. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2Corin. 5:17
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Recently I wrote about expressing gratitude to those who have influenced our lives in a positive way and to worthy individuals or groups in general. I took my own suggestion and wrote a letter to our mayor and city council thanking them for their efforts. Being an artist, I can't seem to stop myself from doing things a little differently. I drew a medal of commendation of my own design on heavy watercolor paper, colored it, cut it out and included it in my letter to the mayor. He later promised to pin it on his lapel at the next commission meeting. Mmmm. Maybe.
My next letter of gratitude went to our preacher, truly God's man sent to our congregation.
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"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."Romans 15:13